Letters in the Attic

Ophelia walked through the front door of her grandmas house. The same house she visited every summer as a girl but this time without two important pieces, her grandma and her grandpa. Grandpa had died a number of years ago but walking through the doors knowing full well she wouldn’t be able to get advice from her grandma, made the mess that was her life worse. She had just separated from her husband and divorce papers are being written, she lost her dream job and then got the call the Grammy had just died. The only comforting thing was the house had become her safe place. Grammy had left her the house in the will. Now it was time to try to sort all those things she never thought she would have to pull herself out of. Ophelia loved how her grandparents were so in love right until the end, she remembered times as a child when she would watch her grandparents dance in the kitchen and would snicker at them being that they had no music to dance to. There was no question about their love, she missed it and had hoped her own marriage would have proved the same, but it didn’t he cheated and abused her she only realised in the end and got out when she was able. Ophelia dropped her bags in the cold room and took a deep breath and took in all of the smells that lingered from her Gran. It made her smile, she slowly walked through the house room by room hoping Gran would be just around the corner. As Ophelia got to the top of the stairs, she got flashbacks of running the house gran chasing her. Ophelia continued room by room remembering her nostalgic moments. When she made the final turn at the end of the hall to head back downstairs, she knows an opening in the ceiling and pulled a string she didn’t remember it being there as a child but pulling quite hard, as it was stuck it came down to expose a staircase. Ophelia got an urge of excitement and nerves, but something told her to go. She climbed every dusty stair until she was met with in a whole new place that she had never seen. Like any attic it was dusty and had old furniture and boxes but under the window lighted a stream of sunlight that fell on a chest that was she had never seen before within the initials written FS, she thought for a moment wait gran’s name was Freya and her family name was Sanders. This chest with hers, she quickly tried to open it to be disappointed to find it was locked. Her current excitement faded but where the house was now hers, she knew she would find a way to open it. Ophelia headed downstairs, closed the attic and went to the kitchen to start a pot of tea. As she sat there thinking of the last few months, she decided her Gran gave her the house for a reason and it would be her own fresh start, she just needed to get through the funeral first! The sky’s screamed sorrow, the graveyard was filled with familiar and unfamiliar, but the thing that surprised Ophelia the most in all of the years going to her grans, was all the funeral gatherings were never as full of grans. she remembered one funeral as a girl in particular. Ophelia and her gran were walking home from the store when there was no one to be found just the pastor and the casket she had asked “Gran why is no one there for them gran? It is so sad.” Gran looked at my small frame and smiled “sometimes their family gained wings before them or have gotten lost along the way” tears welled in Ophelia’s eyes and they burned even more with the fact, that the same woman that told her this was now in the same position except her Gran had people gathered in every pathway, walkway and chair and it made her happy to see that her gran meant that much to others as did to her. Ophelia went going through as many happy memories she could remember. Ophelia’s mother, and her aunts and uncles were doing their best dealing with all the sympathy and condolences they could manage, her mother Agatha looked about ready to pop. Ophelia decided to get her mom aside for some air “mom is you OK?” Agatha took a deep breath, looked at Ophelia “yes dear I will be!” she stood in silence and then spoke again “I forget- I forgot to give this to you during the reading of the will, please take this. It was something gran said you are the only one have”. this was a surprise to Ophelia because why did Gran leave this thing just for her. she had 8 other grandchildren and two great grandchildren but took it from her mother Agatha and nodded. Ophelia could see everyone slowly leaving the cemetery, so she decided to go say her last goodbyes to gran before heading home. she put the bag or satchel in her pocket till she made it home. as she walked closer to the casket it felt as though there was no strength in her legs and she couldn’t move, she was about a foot from the casket before she fell to her knees and everything she had been trying to hold burst like a damn, she didn’t get up until her uncle Calvin came to pick her up, he helped her stand and gave her a Big Bear hug” it is OK little one! no matter if she is here or not she will always have her eyes on you” she nodded hugged her uncle back dusted herself off and started to head for the car as she sat in her car trying to collect the rest of herself ,she put her hand in her pocket and felt the bag her mom had given her, something about it was familiar she pulled it out of her pocket to realize it was made from the fabric of one of her grans favorite dresses this did not in fact help her composure. she was feeling around the bag when she noticed that there felt to be more than one thing in there, she opened it to find three things: a note, a key and a ring. Pain seared in her chest when she realized the ring was gran and grampy’s wedding band but finding the key lit with excitement hoping that she had found a way to unlock that damn chest in the attic, the last thing was the note and as she opened it with hesitation the note read “Ophelia as you read this note I know you are realizing many thing as I am gone, this bag is made from your favorite velvet dress and there is a key, and mine in your grandfathers ring these three things all have a certain meaning and that you will figure out as do time and this is one key of the three you will find. I know in my last fleeting years, life has been less than ideal but I have left you many things in the house that will help you as you heal and yes I made it on into a game just like we used to play and I figured that nostalgia would help your journey just know I love you pet an I promise what you are yet to find will be eye opening and prove you’re not alone” Ophelia sobbed and then put her hand in the steering wheel trying to take deep breaths to calm herself a knock on the window startled her as she looked up to and she realize there was her childhood friend Jordan she rolled the window down both looking at each other an after all these years not one moment had skipped he reached inside the car and just held her a sense of calm overwhelmed her and she finally started to calm down they stayed that way for at least 10 minutes when she finally let him go all she could muster for words was “Tea” he smiled without saying a word got in the passenger seat and they drove to in silence to grants house in Ophelia wrapped her arm in his like they need to and went inside the house.